Strategic spots for studying sessions

Make studying adventurous this year by stepping out of the normally packed destinations…. Make studying adventurous this year by stepping out of the normally packed destinations.

During midterm and finals week especially, the normal haunts for Pitt students are quickly inundated with cramming students. Destinations like Hillman Library and the Cathedral of Learning become packed, and the subsequent increase in noise can be brain deafening.

What most students don’t know about are possibilities a little farther away, including coffee shops and even Carnegie Mellon University’s campus.

Frequently, students will gather around sources of caffeine. Rather than giving up hope after failing to find a seat in the mainstays, students might instead try destinations a little farther out.

Foremost of these are Crazy Mocha’s South Side location, 61C Cafe in Squirrel Hill or Coffee Tree Roasters in either Shadyside or Squirrel Hill.

Crazy Mocha in the South Side features a shop more expansive and moodily lit than its Oakland branch but with the familiar quirkiness in its drink selection and varied food options, from cookies to vegetarian sandwiches.

WiFi is also available for students who are as dependent on the Internet as they are on caffeine. Crazy Mocha has a wide array of additional Pittsburgh locations with another close one in Shadyside.

61C Cafe, a Squirrel Hill cultural fixture since 1993, serves up espresso in a more traditional manner. Students will find enjoyment in finding a seat next to the foggy windows in winter months with a mild latte and a copy of Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason” as easily as a chemistry textbook. In addition to fine baked goods, 61C offers free WiFi.

The Coffee Tree Roasters is another excellent coffee vendor to settle into for extended studying time. With the scent of a diverse selection of coffee roasts and flavors hanging in the air, it’s easy to drift away while sitting at the snug tables and chairs arranged across the cafe. Offering free WiFi and baked goods of their own, both Roasters locations are sure to meet students’ needs.

Students hoping for something a little closer to campus could try places adjacent to Schenley Plaza.

Although the Frick Fine Arts building is on the right track, its seating is limited, and savvy arts majors know how excellent of a place it is for studying. In the event that all its high-value study seats are taken, students can jump across the bridge to Phipps, which has a cafe of its own. More importantly, students can go into the botanical gardens for free with a Pitt ID, and it’s amazing how refreshing it can be to stroll through the greenhouses for a study break.

The Carnegie Library is another excellent place to study, where students can slip into nooks hidden throughout inside. In addition to studying inside a historical philanthropic cornerstone, students will find the erudite atmosphere encouraging to studying even subjects like economics.

With the extent of cooperation between Pitt and CMU, including the opportunity for students at one institution to take courses at the other through cross registration, it seems natural that we should share studying locations, too. However, students rarely utilize their neighboring campuses.

Conveniently, CMU finals week for the spring semester begins more than a week after Pitt finals have ended. Pitt students looking for a place to study the week before finals might instead try finding a desk or table in CMU’s finals-removed Hunt Library, located at the back of the mall on its campus. Its vertical exterior columns are coincidentally Hillman-esque but are made of steel rather than concrete. Although Hunt’s floors are smaller than Hillman’s, there are more of them, and each one is packed with desks and tables. One floor is even designated for quiet studying.

There are still other options available for students, but the only way to find them is to explore a little. A lack of good places to study is a pretty lame excuse when you’re a student in Oakland.